Hard Times Essay #6 - Character Analysis: Louisa In the novel Hard Times, Dickens presents a character by the name of Louisa Gradgrind Bounderby who had suffered from her father’s education system. Mr.Gradgrind’s philosophy forced Louisa to “discard the word fancy altogether” (11) causing her to base experiences on facts and not from emotions. Throughout the novel, Louisa realizes that she does not have any emotional experiences to guide her. This is apparent when …showed first 75 words of 803 total…

…showed last 75 words of 803 total…Gradgrind begins to see his philosophy of facts tumble as he “laid her down there, and saw the pride of his heart and the triumph of his system, lying , and insensibly heap, at his feet ” (163). Indeed Mr.Gradgrind now sees the pain which his philosophy of facts has caused, and begins to realize that emotions such as love and compassion do exist - credited to Louisa being able to recognize the need for emotional experiences.